Yemen food crisis reaching \'catastrophic proportions\'

Yemen food crisis reaching \'catastrophic proportions\', with nearly 500,000 people displaced, aid agencies warn that Yemen\'s instability will worsen unless donors increase funding. A coalition of seven humanitarian organisations – Care International, International Medical Corps, Islamic Relief, Mercy Corps, Merlin, Oxfam and Save the Children – is urging the international community to step up aid before Yemen slides further into poverty and political instability. The aid agencies – which point out that the UN\'s humanitarian appeal has received only 43% of the funding it needs – are urging delegates at Wednesday\'s international Friends of Yemen conference to do more to tackle the food crisis. The agencies say hunger in Yemen has doubled since 2009 and was exacerbated by last year\'s political upheaval. UN estimates, meanwhile, put the number of children facing life-threatening levels of malnutrition at 267,000. Oxfam has also reported an increase in early marriage as families marry off their daughters young in order to ease the burden of the crisis. Although the UN has so far asked for USD 447m of aid, it is thought it will increase its appeal substantially next month as the situation in Yemen worsens.